Here is the gist of what I hear many of you saying:
- Stop messing with private keys on "hot wallets", because... ??
- What might happen? What is a "hot wallet"? How does having a "hot wallet" cause potential loss?
A hot wallet is any wallet connected to the internet. Like Blue Wallet.
What might happen is that your coins disappear because of malware.
- Go offline ("air-gapped"), do part offline, do part online (all with the blinds/drapes closed), because... ??
- How is this safer than just importing the wallet into Blue on my iPhone and then sending to Coinbase?
- I can see how 1 option is an anxiety-inducing difficult and confusing set of steps and how the other option is tap-tap, send, easy/done, but I do not understand how the super difficult option is "safer" than the super easy option?
If you never enter your private key on an online device, malware can't steal your funds.
- LoyceV said, and I quote "You can't possibly be sure about this, there's always a risk."
- But then LoyceV said, in contradiction, "If you're talking about $100k+, why rush things instead of spending a few hours extra to do it 100% safe?"
You can't possible be sure about not having malware. But if your system can't go online, no malware can steal anything.
Why is the method I am going to try any LESS SAFE than another method?
Because you're using a hot wallet.
- LoyceV also said it will highly likely work just fine, like a 95% chance. Isn't that also true of any other crypto transferring method as well?
That 95% was a made-up amount. It's supposed to let you know a 5% risk is unacceptable, not to tell you 95% is okay.
- Coinbase sucks so don't use it, because... ??
I've never used them, so I can't tell you that.
Does this all have to do with PC/Windows computers that doesn't apply at all to iPhone devices regarding malware or hackers being able to see transactions moving thru the ether? Is this outdated info that is no longer fully relevant in 2025 with better technology and secure internet networks and devices that are not susceptible to the vast majority of all hacks/malware/network malfeasance?
It's quite simple: people lose money through malware. That still happens. The rest is up to you.